Monthly Archives: September 2015

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Anastasia Photo is pleased to present The Geography of Poverty, Matt Black’s second exhibition at the gallery.

According to the Census Bureau’s measure of poverty—$11,490 is the annual income for one person or $23,550 for a family of four—over 45 million people fall below the poverty line in the U.S., the largest number on record for the country.

Originating on Black’s Instagram feed (@mattblack_blackmatt), The Geography of Poverty began in his home region of California’s Central Valley. In the heart of the nation’s richest state, conditions rival that of any third world nation, with residents suffering some of the country’s highest unemployment and hunger rates. Combining images, geolocation, and poverty data, the project sought to put these marginalized communities on the map and chart this unseen scope of poverty in rural America. Since the first post in December 2013, The Geography of Poverty has gained over 180,000 followers and earned Black TIME’s title of 2014 Instagram Photographer of the Year.

Following a preplanned route across the four corners of the United States, Black began a three-month road trip this past June, documenting over 70 cities, towns, and rural communities, connected by the fact that more than 20% of their residents fall below the poverty line. From the staggering hunger and food insecurity in the Southwest to the ‘Cancer Valley’ of Louisiana, the persistence of inequality in education and generational opportunity, and rampant unemployment and crime in the post-industrial Mid-West; Black questions what kind of America are we to be – a land of opportunity, or pockets of plenty amidst a landscape of disparity and despair?

Born in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, on March 24, 1963. Hengki Koentjoro is a graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, California, where he majored in video production and minored in the fine art of photography.
Hengki returned to Indonesia to become a freelance videographer/editor, specializing in nature documentaries and corporate profiles, and now lives in Jakarta with his wife Lana and their three children. Hengki is a part time practitioner of the art of black and white photography, which he believes to be his true purpose in life’s journey of expression.

The Secret to Jessica Alba’s SuccessShe’s turned The Honest Company into a billion-dollar brand—here’s how she made it all happen.

There are celebrities with lifestyle brands, and then there’s Jessica Alba. In just three and a half years, the actress turned entrepreneur has transformed The Honest Company, the line of eco-friendlier personal-care products she cofounded, into a big—make that very big—business. Though any Target shopper can get a sense of the company’s success simply by scanning the shelves, the stats are staggering: more than 120 products, including household cleaners, toothpaste, vitamins and diapers, all formulated without toxic chemicals. Alba and her cofounders have raised an estimated $222 million in outside investment; sales ballooned to a reported $150 million last year; some 350 people are on the payroll. Expansions to South Korea and China are in the works. The company is now worth a cool $1.7 billion.

The Secret to Jessica Alba’s Success
Self Magazine, October 2015
more at: self

Focus Stacking, Trap Focus and Magic Zoom are all features that some Canon cameras have but that you can’t use unless you unlock them using the free Magic Lantern firmware add-on. A clever piece of software that incorporates a host of additional photo and video functions for a range of Canon DSLRs (and the mirrorless EOS M), it is simple to install, use and uninstall. This article explains how.

Focus Stacking
Macro photography gives you insights into fascinating and almost endless worlds of new and exciting subjects. However, all macro photographers have to deal with extremely shallow depth of field, a problem that can only be moderately alleviated by stopping the aperture down. Magic Lantern’s Stack Focus function provides a useful solution to this well-known problem.

Trap Focus, Focus Peak and Magic Zoom
Focus stacking requires patience, a stationary subject and an autofocus lens. The manual lenses, bellows units and reversing rings often required for macro photography make automated focus stacking impossible. But never fear – Magic Lantern has solutions for situations like these too.

HDR
High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques come into play when the range of contrast in a subject exceeds the dynamic range of the camera’s image sensor. If you capture a conventional image of such a high-contrast subject, some shadow and/or highlight detail will be lost.

Have you ever been annoyed to discover that some of the features built in to your Canon DSLR have been disabled by the manufacturer for some inexplicable reason? Well fret no more! A group of clever programmers has discovered a back door unintentionally left open by Canon’s engineers that makes it possible to enhance your camera’s feature set to include functions it was never intended to have.

Husband and Wife Team Photograph the Solitude of Sweden’s Wild LandscapesHusband-and-wife photography team Erlend and Orsolya Haarberg are perfectly comfortable with silence. So comfortable, in fact that they would go weeks at a time without seeing another human being while hiking, camping, and photographing in the magical and mystical landscape of Swedish Laponia. And they liked it that way.

Photograph by Orsolya Haarberg

Photograph by Erlend Haarberg

Photograph by Erlend Haarberg

Photograph by Orsolya Haarberg

Photograph by Orsolya Haarberg

Photograph by Erlend Haarberg

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The Solitude of Sweden’s Wild Landscapes by Erlend and Orsolya Haarberg

Tournament Earth 2015 has come to an end, and the colorful faults of Xinjiang, China took the #2 seed all the way to the championship, and a repeat for the Art Section. This year’s victory is a first for the Landsat satellite and we look forward to more great imagery from this and many other satellites and sensors during the next year. Thank you all for voting!

Your 2015 Tournament: Earth Winner – Faults in Xinjiang
Colliding continents and cracks in the Earth’s crust make for some remarkable scenery in western China.

Holuhraun lava fieldAs an island in the moist, atmospherically turbulent North Atlantic, Iceland is often shrouded in cloud cover and hard to observe from space. And lately, the island is making some of its own cloud cover, as the Earth has split open between the Bardarbunga and Askja volcanoes and spewed lava and hot gas. The view of the Holuhraun lava field has been spectacular from the ground and from low-flying aircraft. Infrared imaging makes the view spectacular from space, too.

On September 6, 2014, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this view of the ongoing eruption. The false-color images combine shortwave infrared, near infrared, and green light (OLI bands 6-5-3). Ice and the plume of steam and sulfur dioxide appear cyan and bright blue, while liquid water is navy blue. Bare or rocky ground around the Holuhraun lava field appears in shades of green or brown in this band combination. Fresh lava is bright orange and red.